Holistic Living - New age in france

by Mandakini Narain

France is home to many foreigners who have adopted the country as their cultural refuge. They seem to love the country—its culture, cafés, cuisine, landscape, etc. However, this does not mean that the opposite is necessarily true. The French can initially be a bit reticent about accepting what the ‘cultural refugees’ or the world at large might have to offer them. Take, for instance, the issue of the English language. The French resisted it for many years, until they started accepting its need in a rapidly global English-speaking world. The Internet is another example. The French began by resisting it, preferring their homemade mini-internet system—the ‘minitel’. But once they accepted the foreign invention, they soon found themselves a place amongst the avant-garde of the new technology. In other words, the French begin by doubting and questioning. “We want proof and facts before accepting anything coming from a new source. Don’t forget we are French, we are Cartesians!” In a country of Descartes, the Age of Illumination and the French Revolution, this supremacy of “doubt” and “reason” is inevitable.

New Age has to be understood in this overall context of a cultural tradition rooted in doubt and reason. A few years ago, I lent a book by Deepak Chopra to a young Frenchman who had shown interest in spirituality and personal development. A week later, he returned the book to me, confiding, “It’s a most enriching book! But I must admit that I had to hide it from my girlfriend while reading it. She might suspect I belong to a sect!” On another occasion, I offered a friend an invitation to a Deepak Chopra workshop in Paris. “No, thank you,” she answered politely. “A holistic lifestyle. What does it mean?” After my explanation, she said: “Oh, it sounds like a sect.”

This French reserve for what is ‘different’ or ‘unknown’ only tickled my curiosity and I decided recently to undertake a small survey on New Age and the French. The people questioned were in the 20 to 80 age-group from all walks of life: corporate executives, civil servants, engineers, lawyers, journalists, intellectuals, students, Reiki masters, Shiatsu practitioners, masseuses, old age pensioners, etc. The basic question posed to them was if they had ever heard of New Age and what it represented to them.

Eighty five per cent of them  said they had no idea of what the New Age was, (of which 5 per cent showed an interest in knowing what it was), 7 per cent preferred to remain silent and another 5 per cent had heard of it, but expressed scepticism and reticence for what they saw as a commercial and utilitarian Western fad with some elements of traditional Eastern spirituality. About 2 per cent said that they saw it as a philosophy of life aimed at finding inner peace and harmony through a holistic way of life and only 1 per cent admitted it to be a part of the New Age, adding, “But the real New Age, as it is now known in the USA, UK or Ireland, with all its depth and profound soul work, is still not fully established in France.”

What I retained from the survey, however, was that 85 per cent, indubitably a large majority of people questioned, were unfamiliar with the basic concepts or practices of New Age. At another level, this appeared utterly paradoxical, as I was only too aware that this is the same country where the Buddhist philosophy is attracting more and more people to its fold, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivers his teachings to thousands of people, where Amma gives darshan to endless queues of devotees, and where reputed Indian spiritual organisations have a substantial following.

At another level, France has umpteen health-food stores, spiritual bookstores and wellness fairs. Spiritual mediums and healers have a large clientele. Homoeopathy, magnet therapy, acupuncture and yoga are widely accepted, and acupressure, reflexology, shiatsu and other relaxation techniques are gaining increasing importance. Reiki, despite initial scepticism, has also begun to arouse greater curiosity. So if 85 per cent of the French are unaware of New Age, who goes to these holistic practitioners and who reads the French translations of spiritual and self-development books written by famous New Age personalities from overseas, and which are widely available at reputed bookstores?

The truth, therefore, is that the holistic way of life is very much there in France, as is the quest of the soul. There is growing interest in alternative medicine, alternative ways of seeing the world and being in it. The difference, as compared for instance, with the New Age movement in the English-speaking world, is that the French quest takes a different form. It is also perhaps a lot more discreet. “Most of us continue to seek help from the tried and tested psychoanalysts, as we fear being taken for a ride by those who offer alternative solutions,” explained a chemist, adding that the French are the largest consumers of tranquillisers in Europe.

The French holistic search is discreet, pursued as it were away from the public eye. Reason still reigns supreme in the country that gave birth to the Age of Reason and Enlightenment—where ‘liberty, equality and fraternity,’ and the notions of modern democracy were born, where the State and the Church functions were separated centuries ago, and where modern, rationalistic education boasts of being the best available to man. In this context, holistic and spiritual search is still seen by the common man as something opposed to the mainstream thought-processes of the society.

“I cannot speak of my soul-search to my close friends and family. They will find me odd,” is what someone confided in me. “I can reveal my mystical and esoteric side to you because you are an Indian,” admitted a corporate manager, “but I would never accept a course on relaxation or stress management even if our company offered it. My boss and colleagues would find me weak and weird.” The rationalistic media has further fortified some of this scepticism of holistic elements.

In this ethos of reason, words like ‘guru’ or ‘sect’, have assumed such negative connotations that they have become near virtual taboos. Gourou conjures the image of a manipulative person who extorts money in the name of religion or spirituality, and secte implies a dangerous, secret group, whose deeds bring to the French mind collective suicides, mass manipulations or extortions. (Some of these prejudices are based on recent, deplorable incidents in Europe.) In some cases, therefore, New Age concepts like holistic living are perceived as the same danger that can strike hard if not prevented.

Spirituality and money do not go hand-in-hand in France. The money-spinning practices of some New Age practitioners shock and repulse them. “We do not approve of hard-selling marketing strategies in the name of spirituality or alternative techniques. We are wary of charlatans and sects,” a shiatsu and yoga instructor, who is also a Buddhist, summed it up the other day. “It all depends on what definition we attribute to New Age.  For those of us in France who have heard of this specific movement, the term has negative connotations. It’s like a new race of hippies moving towards spirituality in a superficial manner. But if by New Age you mean deep personal development, then yes, this movement does exist in France in the form of a spiritual quest and a holistic lifestyle,” he concluded. His explanation clarified many things.

The movement towards spirituality exists in this country; its name is perhaps not New Age. But what’s in a name? New Age by any other name would smell as sweet…